“And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years. Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, ‘Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’? … Sisera called out all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. And Deborah said to Barak, ‘Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?’ So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.” (Judges 4: 1-4, 6-7, 13-16 ESV)
Here, in the fourth chapter of Judges, we see that the children of Israel have once again done evil in the sight of the Lord. It seems they always had a habit of doing that, didn’t they? Every time God would deliver them out of the hands of their oppressors, they would become slack in their service to Yahweh and would start worshiping false gods. It is no wonder that they never could be victorious on a constant level. They were always up and down, in or out, or back and forth. It sure sounds like a lot of modern Christians, doesn’t it?
There are way too many people in our churches that have no idea how to walk in victory. They lose battle after battle because they have never learned the principles of winning victories in their life. People today are doing the exact same thing that the children of Israel were doing, then have the nerve to ask why they can’t seem to have victories in their life. Understand this, no one can live in victory if all you are doing is serving God when it’s convenient for you. You cannot be on the fence straddling both the world and serving God. Yahweh demands our allegiance to Him. You are going to have to make up your mind whose side you are on and then serve that Master (hopefully God) with all your heart.
There are three things I would like for you to know about how to move into your spiritual victories on a regular basis.
First, if you are going to move into victory then you must let go of your past and move into the future. The children of Israel had failed God many times in the past. If they were to only rely on their past, then their future didn’t look too promising. Their past had been filled with mistakes, vain promises, rebellion, and outright sin. They had been inconsistent and unstable in their service to God. Thankfully, Israel was not serving a God who judged them on their past failures. They were serving a God who, when He looked at them, saw what they could be and what their future would hold. He saw their future possibilities.
I am so thankful that we serve that same God. We serve a God that doesn’t hold over our heads our past sins like blackmail, but rather, as Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Praise God! Our past failures and mistakes are gone forever. So many times the devil tries to bring up all of our past failures and mistakes that we have made. But thanks be unto God, we do not have to allow those kinds of thoughts into our mind. For the spiritual warrior, who will leave their past behind and move into the future with God, there are victories ahead that our minds cannot comprehend. The devil knows that too and that is why he is always trying to keep us in our past by bringing up everything that we have done.
Do me a favor. The next time the devil brings up your past, remind him of his future–hell!
Second, if you are going to move into victory, then let go of doubt and move into faith. Israel had reached a crucial point. They had been held captive by Jabin, king of Canaan, for twenty years. Now they wanted out; but were they willing to accept whatever way God sent, is the question. I’m sure doubts surfaced all throughout Israel when God raised up a woman, by the name of Deborah, to be the new judge of Israel. Deborah was the first woman judge Israel ever had. More than likely Israel had its doubts about whether a woman could lead them to a military victory. But, if they really wanted out, they were going to have to let go of their doubts and have faith in God’s choice. After all, it isn’t the man or the woman that brings victory, it is the power of the Most High God.
This is exactly, though, why so many in the Church never move into constant victory. They doubt everything that God does. If God does something new in their midst that they have never seen before, They doubt it and make the usual dumb statement, that goes something like this; “Well, I’ve never seen it done like that before, so it's bound to be of the flesh. That’s not God.” What kind of crazy thinking is that? What makes these individuals so sure that they have seen everything that God can do?
The solution to the problem is simple; if we are ever going to move into victory we must let go of our doubts. We must start having a faith that allows us to soar to new heights. We must allow our faith in God to become greater than our circumstances. Then, and only then, can we move into a constant state of victory.
Third, if you are going to move into victory, then let go of fear and move into boldness. Israel had been held captive for twenty years, mainly because of fear. Fear of nine-hundred iron chariots kept them from moving into their victory. To them, they could see no possible way either to escape or to overcome their captors as long as Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, had those nine-hundred chariots.
Sad to say, the majority of the Church today is the same way. There are countless thousands of Christians that have never moved into victory because they won’t let go of their fears. They have become so accustomed to living with fear, that they have developed a fear of getting rid of their fear! 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us though, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” If God has not given us the spirit of fear, then who has? The devil! We must, once and for all, seek to be delivered from all the fears that plague us. You show me a person that has conquered their fears, and I’ll show you a person that is walking in victory.
What we need is holy boldness. When we learn to let go of our fears, then we must learn, as well, to replace that place the fears used to control, with holy boldness. Proverbs 28:1 says, “the righteous are bold as a lion.” I say, let the Church rise up in boldness again. Let us be bold in our testimony, bold in our walk with God, bold in our spiritual warfare against the enemy of our souls. Let us look satan straight in the eye and tell him, "Enough is enough! We’re not going to give up any more ground.” For, if we do so, we will have victories in our lives like we have never dreamed of before!